14926 - Principal Registered Psychologist - Psychology Services - Directorate of Security

State threats refer to overt or covert action orchestrated by foreign governments which falls short of general armed conflict between states but nevertheless seeks to undermine or threaten the safety and interests of the UK, including: the integrity of its democracy, its public safety, its military advantage and its reputation or economic prosperity. State threats are persistent and take many forms, including espionage, political interference, sabotage, assassination and poisonings, electoral interference, disinformation, propaganda, cyber operations, and intellectual property theft. The National Security Act, which received Royal Assent in July 2023, has introduced a range of new and updated tools for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to deter, detect and disrupt state threats activity.

This is a non-rotational, non-operational offender facing role in an establishment.

The job holder reports to the Regional Lead Psychologist. The Principal Registered Psychologist is responsible for the delivery of specialist psychological services across the geographical or functional area which comprise the relevant services. This will include management and provision of professional support to the psychological staff involved in this work. The jobholder will also undertake assessments/interventions of complex cases and will act in a co-ordination role to balance the demands on the team against available resources. The job holder will be non-operational, with line management responsibilities. This role is non-rotational.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties

• Accountable for the delivery of the specialist psychological services as defined in the relevant Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs).
• Accountable for ensuring psychological services are delivered in an ethical and professional manner, in line with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Standards of Proficiency, the HCPC Standards of Performance and Ethics, and the British Psychological Services (BPS) Code of Ethics and Conduct.
• Accountable for supporting the development of Forensic Psychological Services through the supervision of trainee Psychologists.
• Accountable for contributing to research, consultancy and training activities as deemed appropriate by the Regional Psychologist.
• Accountable for managing and providing professional supervision to forensic psychology staff across a range of locations.
• Accountable for monitoring the work outputs within the psychology teams against the Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) to identify performance issues quickly and effect appropriate change to rectify them if needs be.
• Liaise with Regional Forensic Psychology staff and HMPPS managers as appropriate.
• Accountable for undertaking strategic and developmental work in conjunction with the Regional Psychologist, other PRPs in the Region, the Directorate Psychologists and the HMPPS Lead Psychologist.
• Responsible for trouble shooting and supporting teams with delivery issues/accredited programmes/other interventions/assessments in conjunction with relevant HMPPS colleagues.
• Accountable for managing the needs-based prioritisation and allocation process for the provision of forensic psychological input into risk assessment and management of specific offenders within the region or function for their teams.
• Accountable for supporting the delivery and management of the risk assessment and management of offenders for their function or teams.
• Accountable for collating information relating to the assessment and treatment needs of violent and sexual offenders to inform future commissioning of appropriate treatment/services.
• Accountable for monitoring changes to offender populations and subsequent demand for psychological services within their Region or function.
• Work collaboratively within the HMPPS Region Forensic Psychology Service to undertake good quality and timely risk assessments, personality assessments and ability assessments as directed/required.
• Accountable for conducting and overseeing appropriate interventions with high-risk offenders as directed by the HMPPS Regional Psychologist.
• Accountable for contributing to public protection and the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) process for suitable cases and in terms of attending and contributing to relevant meetings.
• As a trained Negotiation Advisor (NA), to provide input at live and simulated incidents within the Region or wider HMPPS (e.g. as Gold NA), as required.
• Accountable for coordinating research, training, and consultancy work within their team or function, and linking across other parts of PSG where necessary to limit duplication and increase cohesion of psychology work delivered.
• Represents the Region Forensic Psychology Service at internal and external events and venues.
• Maintains own Continued Professional Development (CPD) and registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.